I didn't blog yesterday because I had gone to watch Rang De Basanti. The movie began well. The narrative had set the premises of the story firmly and it really was turning out to be a good patriotic movie in which these young guys who have no clue about Indian freedom fighters suddenly become aware of them and awaken to their violent principles. Am talking bout the extremists here. So these guys get inspired and when their friend, who's a MiG pilot, dies in a crash and the defence minister blames it on negligience on the part of the pilot, these guys are furious and decide to fight corruption in the system by assassinating the defence minister, drawing a direct parallel from the Saunders murder, by Bhagat Singh, Azad and company. Sure, I agree that one should fight against corruption but not in the way these guys did. When Azad and Singh fought for the freedom of our country, times were different, and now times are different. Sure, we should follow the ideals of the great kraantikaaris of our country but their ideals should be adapted to our times. And lets not forget, the Extremists did not get us the freedom, it was Gandhi's non-violence that eventually won us independance. It was also the Gandhian principles that Martin Luther King adopted that got the African-Americans their freedom. Lets not forget that peace as a continuous process is more beneficial to human kind as compared to violence as a continuous process. In Afghanistan, there is a whole generation that knows nothing but war and strife due to the many years of conflict in the country. So I suppose that I've made my point.

Anyways, today, for the Psychology project, we visited Bal Anand, a home for destitute and abandoned children. We spoke to the lady in charge and once we were done with the interview, we went to meet the kids. The younger one's were shy, though there were a few enthusiastic and interactive ones. The babies regarded us as though we were strange beings from outer space. And the slightly older ones...well they were a friendly lot. We sang ABCD....with them, and some nursery rhymes....they introduced themselves and when I introduced myself their first reaction was .. Abhishek?? Bachchan!! And then a few of them forgot my name but remembered the Bachchan surname and so they began calling Amitabh Bachchan. They were simply fantastic. I am definitly gonna visit them more often. For somebody who has been abandoned, they seemed pretty content and cheerful. Brought tears to my eyes, but I didn't cry in front of them cause that would make them realise that I was feeling sad for them. We, the fortunate ones, have everything, we take things for granted and yet we are never content. But these children, who have no parents, who've been abandoned, these kids, they are so happy and content with their lives. One often needs a child to remind you that all the material possessions that all of us crave, want, and some of us commit atrocities and crimes for, are all fleeting. All we need to do, is to peer into a child's innocent mind to realise this most common fact of life. Our society is divided, on the basis of caste, colour, wealth, sex...why...why all this division when the end is common to us all, Death is common to us all. Death is the same to a white man and a dark man, to a rich man and a poor man. So why do we differentiate, divide? Is it because we like to feel a false sense of power. Does a white man flog a black man so that he can be proud that he has control over another HUMAN BEING? Having control over another human being is not that big a deal cause we aren't the greatest y'know, we're just full of ourselves. And why is someone proud of the power he wields, the power to control ANOTHER human being. Often, the most powerful are those who are able to control themselves and not those who are able to control others. Anyways, however powerful one may become...there is always a power greater than all powers, the greatest of all powers - Death. For death brings balance; discrimination ends with Death and hence death is the power that brings balance to the human thought and mindset. So maybe Death is not such a bad thing after all.

I don't know if you guys would have got my point. It is vague. I am sorry if it is too philosophical for your tastes but the point of all this is too analyse one of the many wrong things that human thought has created - discrimination; the gift of thought has corrupted us to such an extent that I don't even know whether to call it a gift anymore.

I spent an hour and a half outside Shoppers' Stop today waiting for Keshav. We had gone there for our marketing project. He was very apologetic when he arrived but then it wasn't his fault cause he had been running around all day. He had his play, then his psycho project and then the marketing project. Poor guy was really tired. Anyways, in that hour and a half, I had interesting people keeping me company. A street urchin, a full grown man with torn clothes and a hairy and ragged look, startled passers by, as he jumped in front of them with his hands raised at the same time making a grunting sound. Then there were two girls standing next to me discussing the quality of the fabric of which clothes in Shoppers' Stop or Westside(not too sure there) are made of. They were also talking about fairness creams and a guy who was clearly a wannabe who walked past. I believe their exact quote regarding the wannabe was - "kitna smart lag raha hai." Then there was this driver whom I saw speaking to two ladies at separate times during a half hour period. The second lady seemed to be those over reacting types. So my hour and a half had some entertaining moments. The rest of the time, I tried to sleep. But couldn't manage it while standing.

F1 news now. Schumi says that Alonso still has a lot to learn and that he could still show him a few tricks and he said - "I do not feel like an old man hopelessly lost among these young guys." Massa is looking for wins and has been told by the team that he will be allowed to race and will ot be required to help Schumacher. Honda launched their new car today and they were the only team who had two models of their new car ready so that Barrichello and Button could start with the new car at the same time. They also boast of having the best driver line up in F1. Sources in India have said that Narain has accepted the fourth driver role at Williams and that his sponsors will support him as Williams' fourth driver. However, Williams are yet to make a statement on the matter. Marc Gene was fastest in Barcelona today driving the older Ferrari F-2004 modified with a V8 engine. Ferrari have been forced to move testing of the new 248F1 to Barcelona and Schumacher will drive the new car along with Gene driving the F-2004 at Barcelona from tomorrow.
Thats all for now from the Speed Demon. Good Night. Take Care. And FORZA FERRARI!!!!

I had one of the most wonderful days in college today. I wasn't sleepy in lectures, for once, I was able to answer the 'Things Fall Apart' test quite decently (I think), and I had great company. Then I came home surfed the net, played F1 2004 and slept between six and nine in the evening. And yes my maids were there. Thats it. That is my day so far.

Ferrari unveiled their 2006 season challenger today at Mugello. The new car, breaking away from tradition, has been christened the Ferrari 248F1. Since there is a new engine formula from this season onwards - 2.4 litre V8 - hence the name '248'. Ferrari's 2005 challenger, the F-2005, flattered to decieve and the Scuderia failed to make a mark on the outcome of the '05 championship. Paddock Pundits are saying that with a return to tyre changes, Ferrari will be competitive again in '06, since the Bridgestone tyres were the Achilles' heel of the F-2005. However, all teams are yet again on a level playing field due to the new engine formula and nothing can be said until the first race in Bahrain on March 12th.

Among other news, Mclaren's new MP4 - 21 took to the track yesterday for the first time at 9.15am local time at the Circuit de Catalunya, Barcelona. The team's test driver Pedro de la Rosa was at the wheel. Testing of the new car continued today but after only 19 laps it suffered from an oil pressure problem.

The new BMW-Sauber seems to be quite fast out of the box. The F106 was very much on the pace, Jacques Villeneuve going faster than his team mate Nick Heidfeld.

I guess thats all the major happenings in F1 today. For pics of the new Ferrari please visit Ferrariworld.com. Next unveiling is the Williams FW28; that is on the 27th. Thats all for now. Take Care. Good Night. And FORZA FERRARI!!!!

I've just woken up. I tend to sleep a lot at odd hours in the evening like 6ish whenever i don't have to go the gym and my maids always wonder why I sleep at such a time. They haven't told me anything but I'm guessing they must think I'm drunk and I'm sleeping it off.

Well I do have some F1 news now and here it is: Alonso has just bought a new house with his World Champion's salary in the tax haven that is Switzerland. His new place is in some ski resort. I don't remember the name right now. He already has a house in England just minutes away from the Renault factory. Other drivers who have residences in the tax haven include Michael Schumacher, Jarno Trulli, Jacques Villeneuve, and a few others.

The next big news is that Bernie Ecclestone is rumoured to be organizing the 2007 Belgian GP. After it was cancelled from this year's calendar due to lack of adequate development, the F1 supremo has decided to organize the GP from 2007-2012. The Walloon Government, who were responsible for not concentrating on the development of the infrastructure at the track will be required to pay 18 million euros in damages and will have to invest 15 million euros in the circuit.

Honda's new car seems to be running well. The chief test engineer has said that they have been able to establish the limits of all the components and this will help reliability. Also Barrichello is settling in and getting used to the new car and Michelin tyres.

Thats all the F1 news that the Speed Demon has for you right now. Goodnight.

Very sleepy right now. Slept late last night. And what a wonderful night it was! My uncle turned 50 yesterday and in honour of that we threw him a surprise party. I got me some ale to drink and we partied into the wee hours of the morning. At one point, my uncle got up onto a chair and gave a speech thanking us all for the party. Somewhat like old Bilbo in The Lord of the Rings; only Bilbo turned 111 and my uncle turned 50. So anyways, I had a spanking time yesterday.

I am reading this book by Richard Bach called Johnathan Livingstone Seagull. And it truly is a magnificent book. Its about a seagull who wants to fly. Really fly. Seagulls usually only fly to get their daily fish and then they come back to shore. But Johnathan Gull wants to master the art of flight. And he wants to teach the other gulls too, show them that there's more to life than going after fish and scraps of stale bread. He is scorned at and ridiculed and chided and eventually banished from the flock for his unorthodox ways but inspite of that, he masters flight. It is a book that gives us an example that we can do whatever we want to if we set our mind to it. If we truly want it and work for it then it is easy to attain. I am yet to finish the book and I will post more about it once I'm done.

My day, so far, has been getting better and better. In the morning I was a little downcast, then I cheered up and now I'm almost back to normal. That's it for now, I suppose. No Formula One news today, at least not right now, cause I'm yet to update myself with the latest happenings in the paddock.

Haven't blogged for two days now. I was typing out today's post in the afternoon when the lights went out, kinda like hiranandani, thane, right pooja, if you're reading this. Well I had poured my soul out in the blog in the afternoon but I'm getting bored to do that now. I made a very vague and very long point and if anyone would have read that then you guys would have ended up confused. So I wrote that I would think about it, make it clear and then make my point, cause its kinda philosophical, about the uniqueness of each individual and how different individuals draw different perceptions of work and enjoying oneself. So I'll make it clear and post it.

I've just finished a major bulk of my management project that is due on the 23rd and I had time so I thought I'll blog. I was feeling a bit grumpy in the evening, not in a good mood by a long shot. I was snapping at people and stuff like that. I seriously need a little alone time. The people around me are really great and I love all of them, but my creativity is hindered if I'm having a good time. So I need a little alone time so that I sink into mild depression and think in order to pull myself out. I seriously need to write a poem now but no thoughts come to my mind....I need to express myself...I need to write. Writers often write well because they go through a lot of pain. My best poems have been written when my deeds have often driven me to the vale of tears. But right now, I'm having a good time. I need to feel sad, depressed, if I have to write. So many phrases unmade, words not combined, the possibilities of poetry are like those of music...endless!

Some F1 news now: The Belgian GP is off the calendar for the 2006 season. F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone wanted the organisers to extend the grandstands but they are short of time to do so, so the GP will not be held this season; BMW-Sauber have wrapped up their Valencia test; Button is fastest on day 3 of the Jerez test, no Ferraris were present; Nigel Mansell looks forward to Silverstone comeback. He is currently driving in the Grand Prix Masters series in which retired drivers compete for the Grand Prix Masters crown. The schedule has just been announced and Silverstone is on the calendar. Mansell is looking forward to racing in front of his home crowd; Mclaren's 2006 challenger, the MP4-21, will be unveiled next week. The team has been using an orange liveried car in test sessions and I will be interested to see wether after the loss of their sponsor, West, whether they will use this livery during the season as well.

Today is our weekly off from college...it only reminds me that we have college on Sundays. After blogging yesterday, all I did was play F1, the 2004 season, and surf the net even more. I didn't step outta the house yesterday. Kinda like the days from two years ago, when the only time I stepped out of the house was when I had college, that too because I had college. So getting back to the point, I did absolutely nothing yesterday...though I could have studied for my economics A.T.K.T. exam which I will have to appear for within a month's time. Oh yeah...I also napped yesterday..from 5 in the evening to 9 at night and then obviously i couldn't sleep at night. So what did I do?? I played F1 and surfed the net again. Ok, now enough writing about what I did yesterday...now for some F1 news:

Well on Monday at 9.24am Maranello time, the new Ferrari F-2006 hit the track for the first time, driven by Michael Schumacher. It was a cold morning and there was even some snow. But even then the new F-2006, on intermediate tires, managed to lap the Fiorano circuit in under a minute, though no official times were disclosed. The official launch of the car is slated for 24th January.

The new BMW-Sauber team launched their new car yesterday just after 9am. It bears quite a semblance to the old Williams-BMW. It is covered with Petronas, Credit-Suisse and Intel logos. It is painted blue and white.

Three personnel from Toyota have been charged with using stolen technology from Ferrari in their 2002 and 2003 cars. An engineer who came over from Ferrari in 2002 got the program with him and it was used by three Toyota personnel. The names were not disclosed earlier but now the identities of the three men have been revealed. One of them is Ove Andersson, the former Toyota team boss, the other is Gustav Brunner, former chief designer and the third is Rene Hillhorst, former head of aerodynamics.

That is the news worth note so far. The rest is just worth a quick glance. Some quotes here, teams gushing about how good and quick their cars are, though when the season starts most of them will be slow and they won't know whats wrong with their cars that were so quick over the winter.

http://www.f1racing.net/en/photolarge.php?photoID=54800&catID=1924

Here I am blogging again. This blogging thing is really addictive. My alarm rang at the right time but I decided to switch it off and go back to sleep. So I'm not going to college today. I was reading MJ's blogs last night. Man he thinks a lot. Very philosophical and he has more than 1K posts on his blog. Wonder how much time it took him to reach that figure. Well he does blog a lot. MJ's name has featured the most number of times in my posts. Yash and Pooja have also been mentioned, now twice, but MJ has featured in every post, I think, I have put up up so far. Even Michael Schumacher hasn' featured in my posts as much as MJ. Hey MJ, if you read this...this is an achievement!(I read your 1k entry yesterday).

Well here I am at home, having just woken up 20 minutes back and i don't know what to type next. The same nonsense as the above or maybe something sensible. Sensible? Nah! I'll just type whatever my mind thinks of and the keyboard is willing to type.

Well, here I am, the whole day ahead of me waiting to be spent the way I want to spend it. So here I am...a man without a plan. That's how I've always been, regarding decisions in which I have a choice. Obviously I can't be a man without a plan in certain cases...like in college where I have to meet deadlines and sometimes in important matters, where, if I'm indecisive, the repurcussions would be grave. So the man without a plan thing, man what a cliche, as I said, thats how I've always been. I decide on the spur of the moment, at the last minute.

Well, here I am, I seriously should stop using that, all my paragraphs so far begin with that line! Now I really don't know what to type. MJ, in one of his posts, wrote that he tries to live each day in an interesting way so that he can have a lot to blog about. Or something to that effect at least. But I'm not gonna try and live each day in an interesting way cause I already have something interesting going on in my life and when the Formula One season kicks off on March 12, I'll seldom be short of words.

Mj read the previous post and called me up to ask whether everything was okay. Now it has kinda settled down, the confilct has. i went to the gym, did 40 minutes of cardio, some light weights and all of a sudden my mind was clear and I was able to put things in perspective. Well now I've put things in their appropriate places and even if they bother me, I won't lose much sleep over them tonight. Maybe they will be stirred tomorrow and maybe they will again cloud my judgement and thinking. But now I know what to do - 40 minutes of cardio and some light weights, thats what.

Told MJ on the phone that I'll be going to college tomorrow, but now I'm not sure....I just feel like sleeping late tomorrow. But then again, I have Yash bringing me something and i know I will look forward to that. Lets see, I'll set the alarm for 5.30 and see whether i feel like waking up or not.

Well if there is one thing I haven't blogged about, its F1 and that is very unlike me. Well Ralf has told Michael to stop whining (that reminds of Pooja). He says that Michael shouldn't leave the team if they fail to provide a competitive car this season. Ralf says that Michael should stay with the team and once again build them into a strong winning package, just like he did when he joined them back in 1996. Ralf says that Michael still has a lot of winning left in him. Among other news...Toyota have officialy launched their new car, the TF106, and they believe that this will give them an advantage. In yesterdays testing session, Alonso topped the timesheets. Alonso worried about Bridgestone's competitive pace. And Schumi has given the V8 the thumbs up.

Just got back from college. Management presentation went off very well and I also submitted my English Literature project hard copy. So on the academic front everything is great. On the personal front though, I've got a conflict raging in my mind. My friend MJ would know how i'm feeling right now, though he is not aware of the storm and confusion in my head. I don't know what to do. When i sit idle or even when I'm taking a walk, I keep thinking about all this shit. And the stuff that is frying my head, its absolutely stupid. I know its not true but then again my irrational side doesn't want to hear the rational. So there it is. It is a conflict between the rational and the irrational. Though thats not all that its about. I guess this thing will truly settle down only once I hit the gym and get some good cardio in. That will definitely make my mind lighter. Stuff just keeps happening to me. There is always a lot on my mind. No one can make out though cause I deal with it in a humourous way. But the day the humour dries up in me....I dunno....maybe I'll buckle under the pressure...or maybe not. Only time will tell...

well this is my first entry in the Diary of Speed. This diary will chronicle the events and happenings of my life and will also follow the F1 season as it unfolds. Well as of now F1 is on its winter break and as the teams test here i sit blogging about my life. Well certain interesting things are happening in my life on the personal front and on the work front its hectic because of the number of projects we've been assigned. Being a media student isnt easy. But then again, nothing comes to you easy in life. If you want it u gotta bloody well work for it! Please forgive me if get philosophical but with a person who thinks a lot it happens from time to time. i'm just thinking...should i post a poem?? nah! not right now, maybe tomorrow. For now, i should be going to bed. Its late and i gotta wake up early. Maybe I'll dream about faraway lands...Maybe Middle Earth!! Well lets talk about dreams tomorrow. Good night!